David Sutherland (born 1933) is a Scottish illustrator and comics artist with

DC Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', '' The Evening Telegraph'' and '' The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor W ...

, responsible for

The Bash Street Kids ''The Bash Street Kids'' is a comic strip in the British comic magazine '' The Beano''. It also appeared briefly in The Wizard as series of prose stories in 1955. The strip, created by Leo Baxendale as ''When the Bell Rings'', first appea ...

(1962–present), Dennis the Menace (1970–1998), Fred's Bed (2008–2012) for ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-run ...

'', and the second version of Jak for ''

The Dandy ''The Dandy'' was a British children's comic magazine published by the Dundee based publisher DC Thomson. The first issue was printed in December 1937, making it the world's third-longest running comic, after '' Il Giornalino'' (cover dated 1 O ...

'' in the early 2000s. He started out as an adventure strip artist, drawing strips such as The ''Beanos The Great Flood of London in 1960–61 (reprinted in Classics From the Comics in 2007) and Billy the Cat (see), before replacing

Leo Baxendale Joseph Leo Baxendale (27 October 1930 – 23 April 2017) was an English cartoonist and publisher. Baxendale wrote and drew several titles. Among his best-known creations are the '' Beano'' strips ''Little Plum'', ''Minnie the Minx'', ''The Bash ...

as the artist for The Bash Street Kids, who were given the two pages in the centre of the comic at the same time. He has been the strip's main artist since then, during which time he has drawn more than 2000 individual strips for the weekly comic. He also replaced Dudley D. Watkins on

Biffo the Bear Biffo the Bear is a fictional character from the British comic magazine ''The Beano'' who stars in the comic strip of the same name, created in 1948 by Dudley D. Watkins. He was the mascot of The Beano for several decades. Background Biffo's c ...

after his death in 1969, and continued to draw the character through the 1970s, after his strip relinquished that cover of the comic to Dennis in 1974. In 1977, Gnasher was given his own strip in the ''Beano'',

Gnasher's Tale Gnasher () is a fictional comic strip character that appears in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. He is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace (UK), Dennis the Menace, who meets him in 1968's issue 1362, and is also the star of three spin-off ...

, which like the main Dennis strip was drawn by Sutherland. Similarly, when Dennis's pet pig, Rasher, received his own page in 1984, Sutherland was again the strip's artist, as he was when Gnasher's Tale was replaced by

Gnasher and Gnipper Gnasher () is a fictional comic strip character that appears in the British comic magazine ''The Beano''. He is the pet dog of Dennis the Menace, who meets him in 1968's issue 1362, and is also the star of three spin-off comic strips. Gnasher ...

in 1986. Sutherland began to draw

The Germs ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

for the comic in 1988, although in the early 1990s he was replaced by Vic Neill. He also stopped drawing Gnasher and Gnipper in 1992, with artistic duties being handed to Barry Glennard. In 1998, Sutherland stopped drawing Dennis the Menace after 28 years, handing over to David Parkins, although he has continued to draw the Bash Street Kids. Over the next few years, he drew Korky the Cat for the ''Dandy'', as well as the second incarnation of Jak. In 2009 it was confirmed that he was the new artist for the ''Beanos Fred's Bed strip. Initially taking over for a three-month period as replacement for Hunt Emerson, he later shared the workload with

Tom Paterson Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986 to 2012. As of 2013, he currently draws strips for Viz. He lives in Leith, with three children, and is a Hearts supporter. Ta ...

before taking as over the strip's main artist during 2011. He sometimes draws himself into strips, such as Biffo in the 2010 annual. To mark Sutherland's 50 years as illustrator of the Bash Street Kids, an exhibition of original artwork from D C Thomson's collections was held at the University of Dundee in June–August 2012, with the artist appearing for a Q&A event on 13 Jun.

Comic strips

The strips that David has drawn for DC Thomson over the years include:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, David British comics artists Living people 1933 births British comic strip cartoonists The Dandy people The Beano people Dennis the Menace and Gnasher